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Why isn't there any mention of what the input voltage is?I assume you're testing in 120V but i'm quite sure a large percentage of your readers are coming from somewhere with a voltage more around 230V.

Please, how does this affect the efficiency? Surely there's some way you can get a power supply that can provide these tests with both 120V and 230V tests?Reply

They used to test with both, which I would personally like to see come back. They also used to use a proper dbA measurement for noise and not the 'subjective' measurement they now use. A bit of a shame. Reply

There have always been far more PSU brands than manufacturers. Seasonic, at one time, didn't put their name on anything, they made PSUs for other companies to retail, and it was only through being mentioned in articles by sites like Anandtech and Tomshardware that end users came to know the name.

Any company that chooses Seasonic as a manufacturer deserves credit for making a great choice, since overall there is none better or more consistent (I rank Enermax up there as well, though being very picky about the electronic results puts Seasonic slightly ahead, overall). And, there is nothing wrong with having someone manufacture something you tweak the specs of to make your own design variation, or even just add a little "bling" as is pretty much the case here.

Just as an example, one reason I won't buy another Silverstone PSU is that you need a chart to figure out who made their particular product, and they more often choose by the manufacturing cost than by the quality of the work. Antec, on the other hand, chooses manufacturer quality over cost, generally speaking. You are more likely to find an Antec made by Seasonic than a Silverstone made by Seasonic. In fact, as far as I've read Silverstone has never used Seasonic. (Regardless of who's name is on it or who made it though, I firmly believe in buying a unit that you've read a proper review of.)

But I don't understand why anyone would care even the slightest about how their PSU looks. I read the review and watched the video (which was almost entirely focused on the exterior design), but...I still don't get it.Reply

Some folks get all excited about the exterior look of the PSU. It's strange for sure. Some reviewers actually rate the BOX that the PSU comes in. Does it have pictures of a sexy girl and a carrying HANDLE? If not they deduct points from the score... Some people are really gullible. ;)Reply

I have the XFX Pro 1250W Black Edition, which is very similar to this PSU and looks the same. All i have to say is that it's an excellent PSU, i've nothing bad to say about it at all.

It's powering a VERY high end socket 2011 system with multiple GPU's, SSD's + HDD's, water cooling, 32GB RAM, and a highly overclocked i7 (4.9GHz) and the PSU remains quiet. Looks sexy too, even the cables are nice and all black.Reply

As you said this PSU is made by Seasonic and they reuse their own design so this is almost exactly the same as the Seasonic eponymous version with the differences being the Seasonic has the better San Ace fan, it doesn't look like it was made by the Dharma Initiative, it has a connection from the main PSU board to the back that the XFX doesn't have (no idea what it's for), and the Seasonic is $25 more than this XFX version. Looking at the parts I think the XFX may also use some less expensive components that are spec'd near the same tolerances to shave a few dollars off production costs.

If you want to save $25 (a good 10% of the cost) and don't mind the inferior, but still OK, fan and possibly some inferior components go for it. I'm not sure the better parts will make a real difference. That said I decided to spend the extra few dollars and went for the "real" Seasonic because I was buying the best and didn't want to skimp.Reply